The Panic of 2001
by KKCopper
Summary: "I have to go to work today, it's my last day," Iris said. Barry sighed. "I know you do… but why not skip today and go tomorrow? I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen…" "It'll be fine, I promise."  *One-shot in honor of 9-11, IrisXBarry*


_**(A/N: In honor of all the good men and women who died during the terrorist attacks on that dreadful day of 9-11-01, I decided to write this story. I chose Iris because of a story called "Dial 911" *good story BTW* One-shot.**_

_**FIRST, a moment of silence for all who died =(**_

…

_**Okay, now I felt like Iris deserved some action, so she's gonna work in New York while she's just gotten married to Barry… Enjoy, sort of, and I'm sorry if this makes you cry because of the memory it may or may not bring up)**_

"_I still can't believe I'm married…"_ Iris was musing in her head as she waited in the usual New York traffic on her way to work. It seemed like only yesterday that she'd met Barry in a café store during her lunch break. He'd started to flirt with her and she'd given him her number. It'd turned out he lived semi-far away, in Central City, but their relationship still blossomed and he'd soon gotten down on one knee. She'd been surprised but had said yes instantly. Although, she wasn't as surprised then as she was whenever Barry told her about his alias.

She still loved him.

Iris sighed, her elbow propped up on her rolled down window as the light in front of her finally turned green. Her car began to inch along and the World Trade Center was slowly getting closer.

"Maybe I should have just stayed home like Barry'd wanted…" Iris muttered under her breath. It was too nice out to be going to work and Barry was always trying to get her to stay. He always got nervous when she went to work ever since the attempted attack at bombing the buildings through the parking lots… She could easily remember the conversation they'd had about it this morning.

_Barry grabbed her elbow just as she picked up her purse and was about to head towards the door. He'd stayed in her apartment last night, helping her pack up since she was going to be moving to Central City to live with him._

"_Barry, I have to go to work today, it's my last day," Iris said, turning to face her husband and giving him a kiss on the lips._

_Barry sighed. "I know you do… but why not skip today and go tomorrow? I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen…"_

"_It'll be fine, I promise," Iris told him, trying to reassure him, but one look into his eyes made her realize this was really bothering him. _

_Iris placed a caring hand on Barry's cheek, making him relax a little bit, and she gave him another soft kiss on the lips._

"_I'll be fine," she repeated when she'd pulled back. "Besides, I won't even be there a full day. I'll get to come home at noon." She smiled, trying to cheer him up a bit. Barry managed to crack a small grin and this time he kissed her, his lips on her forehead where he whispered three words._

"_Just be safe."_

Iris sighed, running a shaky hand through her hair. She was nervous for some reason, too, and she wasn't sure why.

Iris shook her head, it was just Barry being protective again, like usual. She reached for her coffee as she got to the parking garage for the North Tower and took a drink. She sighed, eyes closed, nothing calmed nerves better than Starbucks.

Iris parked her car in her usual spot and slipped her purse onto her arm as she got out of her car. She locked it and headed over to the elevator that would take her to lobby, from there she would go to another elevator to head up to her office on the 32nd floor out of 110.

The lobby was busy, as per usual, once Iris got there. She checked her watch, it was eight o'clock. She was sort of late. It didn't really matter, of course, since she was just packing up her stuff and then leaving.

Iris made her way through the crowds of people and over to the second elevator. She managed to catch it just as it was closing and squeezed herself in with apologies to the already full capsule.

"What floor?" the man nearest the buttons grunted as the doors began to close again.

"Thirty-two thank you," she said as the man nodded and hit it.

Then, they were going up. With about ten stops between her floor and the lobby, Iris managed to finish her coffee with time to spare.

Finally, they reached thirty-two, by that time it was 8:10 and the elevator had lost thirty percent of its load, making it run a little faster. Iris waved to the man she'd been chatting with on the ride before heading over to her office.

Her office neighbor, Jean was already there.

"Hey Iris," Jean greeted from where she was leaning against her door frame, latte in hand as she sipped on it.

Iris smiled at her. "Hey!" she greeted, but she didn't pause otherwise, determined to get the last of the stuff she needed to get done, done (which included a few things of paperwork, which is why she'd told Barry noon instead of sooner, he didn't know how much she still needed to pack).

Jean chuckled at Iris's rushed state. "Work isn't going anywhere, you have all day," Jean pointed out, "so why the rush?"

Iris laughed. "Barry's all worried something is going to happen today, so I promised him I'd be home by noon and I still have some paperwork to do."

"Ah," Jean said with a nod, sipping her latte again. She stared into it when she realized there was none left before shrugging and pitching it.

"It really is a beautiful day today," Jean mused longingly as she went to her desk with a sigh. Even though there was glass separating them, Jean and Iris both always kept their doors open so they could hear each other.

Iris nodded, glancing out the window walls behind her. She sighed like Jean had. "Yeah, it is…" she agreed. She glanced at her watch again, it was 8:30 and she already wanted to see Barry again. Her nerves were coming back and she wasn't sure why. Iris wished she still had her coffee…

Iris shook her head; she glanced at her watch again, willing the hands to move. Then she turned back to her computer with a frustrated _"Humph". _She wouldn't get anything done if she kept glancing at her watch.

Iris's hands began to fly across the keyboard as she set into her normal routine of work. She'd just started humming a song to herself when she heard the engine of a plane. Usually that wouldn't be anything _un_usual, but it was so loud it sounded like… it was…coming… right… at them.

Iris had spun around while she was thinking this and ended up dropping the water bottle she'd gotten out of the mini-fridge in her office in shock. Right in front of her was a giant plane and it was headed straight towards them. Iris checked her watch one more time.

It was 8:41…

"GET DOWN!" Iris heard someone shriek and everyone got into a panic, diving under desks or running towards the nearest stairwell as they realized what was about to happen.

Iris dove in front of her desk as a really loud crunching sound was heard from above them. She covered her head instinctively as the entire building shook with a fierceness that made her think it would fall over then and there.

She heard screams as the dust cleared. Iris stumbled to her feet, still completely shocked by the entire situation. Why would a plane crash into the building? Were the pilots so stupid that they didn't see the massive structures until it was too late or what?

It took her a second to realize it had to be on purpose… Those men who'd put the bombs in the garage, it was them coming back to finish what they'd started.

It was a terrorist attack.

Iris began to panic once she'd realized this. _"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die," _her thoughts screamed at her as her breaths hastened.

"Jean!" Iris called, her ears ringing as she went into her friend's office. Jean blinked up at her from where she was huddled in a corner.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" Iris screamed at her, putting a hand out to help her friend up. Jean hesitated, just staring at the hand as if consumed, but she finally took it and shakily got to her feet.

"What should we do?" Jean asked her, her voice filled with panic.

"Let's just GET OUT and worry about that later!" Iris told her. Jean nodded and they began to make their way out. When Iris stumbled over the first person she paused again.

"WHAT is it? We need to GO!" Jean shouted when she noticed Iris had stopped.

"We have to help get out as many people as we can!" Iris told her. Jean gave her a confused look.

"We have to get out first! They can fend for themselves," she snapped.

Iris gave her a fierce glare. "No, I'm going to help them, you can go if you want to but I will NOT just walk by a person in need and let them die knowing I could have helped!"

Much to her surprise, Jean rolled her eyes. "Fine, be that way," she said and then left.

Iris scowled to herself and began to help people up. Her anger at her so-called friend made her work faster and soon everyone in this room was stumbling towards the stairs.

The first man she'd helped paused whenever Iris started to go UP the stairwell instead of down, grabbing her by the same wrist Barry had grabbed her by this morning. Iris looked down at her wrist in shock and then looked back up at the man.

"Where are you going?" he shouted at her.

"There's got to be more people who need help up there! I'm pretty sure the plane crashed on somewhere in the eighties –" she began to explain whenever the man cut her off.

"EXACTLY why you shouldn't go up there!" he pointed out.

"I have to help them! They could be trapped!" she screamed, trying to pull out of the man's grip now. No one else cared, they all were "dog eat dog" people and she hated it.

"Then I'm coming with you, two people can work faster than one," he said firmly. Iris's eyes widened in shock, but she quickly nodded and the two of them dashed up the stairs against the flow of people streaming down.

After fighting against the crowds for a while, they made it up to the next floor. They made quick work of getting people up and moving before continuing on up to the next floor where they did the same.

As they got closer and closer to the plane, it got hotter and more damaged. Around the 35th floor, she heard another rumble and someone shouted that the South Tower had gotten hit by a plane, too at 9:03. Tears formed in Iris's eyes as she coughed for the fifth time in a minute, this was all just terrible. WHY were they doing this to them, whoever they were? How could anyone be so evil?

The air was terribly filled with smoke and debris as they continued to go up. Iris was now always breathing through her shirt but it helped very little.

"Iris!" the man (Matt was his name) shouted at her. She blinked through the tears in her eyes and saw him trying to help a man who was trapped under a column. She quickly stumbled over there through the debris and helped him lift. They got the man out, who gasped his thanks before starting to limp away with the help of another man on this floor.

Iris and Matt headed over to the stairs again once they'd cleared this floor and looked up.

"We can't go any farther!" Matt told her.

"No, but those people," Iris began to wail, but Matt stopped her putting his hands on her shoulder and turning her to face him.

"We've already done a lot of good here; we can check other parts of the building now as we head down, okay? If we go much further, we might not get out ourselves… We have fifty-five flights of stairs to go down now. We have to leave," he told her sternly, looking her square in the eyes.

Iris nodded, her lip wobbling a bit, but she knew he was right. Matt smiled slightly at her and they started to head downward.

Just as they did, a suddenly shockwave shook the entire building again. Iris couldn't figure out what it was, did another plane hit their building, and if so why? She checked her watch; it was 9:59…

That's when she heard someone scream below.

"_The SOUTH TOWER IS GOING DOWN!"_

Iris gasped. No, this was just too horrible, all of those people. How had it collapsed before they had, anyways? They'd gotten hit first… Her hands started to shake again as a fresh wave of fear hit her. It was too much. The question she'd been thinking this whole time repeated itself yet again.

_How _could someone _do _something like this_?_

Iris's vision began to blacken on the edges and the last thing she heard was Matt screaming at her to stay awake.

…. …. …. …. ….

Barry was in Central City by 8:20, he'd left when Iris had. He didn't like being alone at her place whenever she wasn't there. He'd decided he would just stay here and do a few rounds, maybe even go to the Watchtower for a bit before leaving to go back before noon, in case she got home early.

Right now, he was talking with a pal of his (the Flash) at the police station. It was now 9:30…

"Yeah, a lot of bank robberies have been happening recently," he was telling his buddy John whenever another officer suddenly rushed out, making both men look up from where they were at by John's cop car.

"You have to come in and see this," he said, panting. "It's the Twin Towers, they –"

He didn't have to say anymore. Flash was instantly inside where all of the officers were gather in front of the television, watching the news.

"It's official, we don't know who or why, but the North Tower has indeed been hit by a plane at the time of 8:42, and the South Tower at 9:03," the lady on the screen was saying. "We fear it is another attack –"

"No, no, no…" Flash was whispering to himself as he began to back out of the building. "No… this can't be happening…"

John noticed Flash's reaction and turned to his friend, but he was already gone.

Flash was already half way out of Central City, running as fast as he dared while also trying to call Batman with his Comm. Unit.

"Come on, come on Bats pick up…" Flash groaned as he ran.

"Hello?" a gruff voice finally answered.

"WeHaveToGetToNewYorkNow!" he screamed, his words rushing together in his urgency.

"Barry, slow down!" Batman snapped at him.

"Have you seen the news yet?" he managed to say a bit slower, but his voice was agitated and also angry at the same time. His worry suddenly got the best of him, though and the words sped up again. "! !"

"Barry," Bruce said in his stern voice, but, for once there was a bit of sympathy in it too, "you know if you go in there searching just for her you could blow your cover right?"

"I DON'T CARE BRUCE! I LOVE HER!" Barry screamed into the communicator. He was only in Pennsylvania… He wasn't fast enough. "You don't understand I'll die if she does!"

Bruce sighed and Barry began to grow agitated, every minutes Bruce wasted was one more minute that Iris might lose if she was –

Barry shook his head, he couldn't think like that. She'd be alive, she WAS alive, he'd know it if she was dead.

"She'd alive… She's alive…" Barry started to whisper to himself unconsciously. When Bruce heard it, he felt more sympathy for his friend, knowing he'd be exactly like this if Dick was there somehow and finally spoke.

"Look, I'll call up Superman and J'onn and I'll even try to get there," he told Barry.

"ThankYouThankYouThankYou!" he said rapidly, smiling the slightest bit now. "Now leave NOW you have to get there as soon as possible Bruce!"

"Alright, don't worry, I'll be there to help," he reassured his friend.

"IHaveToGoNow, INeedToRunFaster_I'MNotGonnaMakeItInTime_!" Barry told his friend and without another stream of words, he hung up and tried to pick up his speed.

It took him an agonizing ten more minutes, but he'd finally reached New York City. He was already a mile into the city limits when he finally realized it. Barry slowed down dramatically and dust flew.

Barry suddenly stopped in horror. The skies had been so clear before, but not here. The entire air above them was covered by a thick veil of terrible, luminous black smoke.

Barry rocked back on his heels and quickly rushed forward again, though not as fast as he had when he'd been running from Central City to here…

The South Tower (at least, what he HOPED was the South Tower) was already collapsed onto the ground. The smoke was like a barrier to the World Trade Center. He went through it, even though he could only see about five feet in front of him, which meant a lot of close calls with running into objects like cars or people.

"_She lied to me…"_ he thought as he weaved, _"She promised me she'd be fine… She lied, this is _not_ fine."_

He finally got there were some people already were. People were streaming out of the North Tower still and Barry actually noticed a friend of Iris's by an ambulance about a block away. He raced over to her… but then he paused after only a second, still several yards away from her. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't use her name; Flash had never met her, even though Barry had…

He was about to pull his hair out, this alias thing was getting in the way of getting to Iris…

Finally, Flash just headed over to her. He knew what he would say.

"Excuse me miss, but do you know if the people from floor 32 got out? I have a friend who works here," Flash asked Jean who looked up at him.

"I'm not sure, a friend of mine, her name's Iris, decided to stay in there. She was bent on helping other people out. I thought she was insane, so I left her… I think she's still inside," Jean told him and Flash mentally started fuming, thinking of all the ways he could beat this woman for ditching his wife like that, she was supposed to be Iris's friend, too.

He had to go inside, if Iris was still in there.

"Mr. Flash sir!" a police officer suddenly called, rushing over to the red hero. "We need your help; they're still people inside of the North Tower, thousands probably, if you could get them out –"

It was all he'd had to say before Flash was off. He barely noticed Superman landing by a different police officer before he was inside and heading up the stairs.

People were pouring down the stairs even as he entered the building. He quickly looked for the one that was less occupied and was about to head towards it whenever he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Martian," Flash growled, "let me go."

"_I can help you look for her,"_ J'onn told him firmly, ignoring his friend's request. _"You can't just go around screaming her name; it will blow your cover. Besides, I know her thoughts well enough."_

Flash clenched his hands into fists, but he nodded. "Just be quick about it! We have no idea what floor she's on!"

Superman suddenly was beside him. "I'm just heading up, I have to help people, you two work on that… Martian, keep us connected."

J'onn nodded and Superman suddenly heard Barry's rushed thoughts, all focused on Iris.

"_Barry, calm down! Your thoughts aren't helping me concentrate," _Superman snapped as he flew up the steps.

"_I'm sorry, it's just –"_ he started to say whenever J'onn interrupted.

"_I've found her; she'd on the 33__rd__ floor and counting, right side…"_ J'onn said and Flash was off.

He easily zoomed through the people after he'd shouted for them to "MOVE!" and a path was given to him on the right side. He got up to the 30th floor and slowed down, scanning the crowd for his wife as he continued on up.

He saw her at the 31st floor and his heart just about leapt out of his chest in relief. The thought that she could be hurt if his identity was blown was the only thing that kept him in place. She appeared to be unconscious though which, sadly, gave him the perfect excuse to ask about her to the man that was carrying her.

He weaved through the crowd until he was next to the man. "What's wrong with her?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"We were helping people and I'd just convinced her we had to go down whenever the South Tower collapsed and- and I think she just freaked out and passed out," the man explained. Flash nodded.

"I'll take her, you'll move faster without her anyways," he said, gently taking Iris into his arms which made him relax even more. "Now get out, don't go back, and leave that to us."

Then, he was off, flying back down the stairs with Iris tucked close to him. Her heartbeat made his entire body fill with relief… He couldn't believe he'd almost lost her.

Soon, he was outside of the building. He rushed her over to an ambulance and she started to stir.

Iris blinked and the first thing she saw was bright red. Finally, her eyes focused and she realized who it was.

"F-Flash?" she managed to get out. Her red head smiled at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, unable to keep the immense relief, and yet the intense concern out of his voice.

Iris nodded with a hand on her head as a nurse began to check her over. "Yes, I'm fine Flash," she told him. Then she looked him in the eyes. "Now, don't worry about me. You go back in there and save some more people."

Flash began to open his mouth to protest, but Iris gave him that look and he remembers who he was. This was not Flash's wife, it was Barry's so he couldn't be concerned. He had a job to do.

"Alright miss, I will," he told her, about to walk away when she grabbed his wrist and momentarily stopped him.

"Be careful, we don't need you dying," she told him firmly, a look of fear for him in her eyes.

"It's my job, I'll be fine," he told her reassuringly. She let go and he was off.

…. …. …. …. ….

At 10:28 the North Tower collapsed. Superman had flown out at the last second with five people in tow and J'onn managed to save about ten that were with him. Iris began to freak out when she didn't see her husband, but once the majority of the dust and smoke had cleared, she stepped out from inside of the ambulance (which her and several people had used for shelter) and looked around just to make sure she hadn't missed him. Finally, she spotted him with three people in his arms, completely covered in dust. As if feeling her gaze and her worry, Barry turned his head and found her eyes. When he saw her worried (and yet relived) look, he flashed her a reassuring smile. Then, he, Superman and J'onn got back to work saving people.

She'd never been more proud of him.

_**(A/N: AND there it is! I hope you all liked it~ The times are accurate and so is the event =( If only the heroes were ACTUALLY there whenever the attack had happened, more people would have been saved.**_

_**I hope you all enjoyed it, it made me sad to think of all the people who had died as I wrote this, but it was on my mind so it had to be done. If anyone wants a sequel tell me~ I may write one =P**_

_**Now review~ it means a lot to me and tells me if I did good or not! Thanks for reading~**_

_**~KKCopper) **_


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